Parkridge East’s NICU Celebrates 30 Years

"Today is really not only a celebration for those patients and for their families," said Parkridge East CEO Jarrett Millsaps. "But a celebration of miracles that has occurred and the fact that every time one of our babies leaves the NICU, it truly is a miracle of life."

Statistics show the earlier a baby is born during gestation, the lower chances it has of surviving.

Thanks to the state of the art technology at neo-natal intensive care units like Parkridge, these babies have a much higher chance of surviving and thriving.

"As parents we understand that most babies are born in terms of pounds," Millsaps continued. "The babies that are coming into our NICU we’re talking in terms of grams, the micro preemies, in some cases 24, 25, 26 weeks as opposed to full term at 40."

The celebration was also a reunion for families who have gone through the trial of delivering a baby very early.

"It was definitely scary," said Tabitha Payne who delivered her daughter two months early. "I didn’t want to leave her at the hospital when I was discharged so we came back and forth every chance we could come visit her and it’s hard during the night when you can’t visit so you can call keep update with what’s going on with her."

The guest speaker was a woman who delivered a baby only 6 months along and has now written about and published her experience.

"When my daughter was born, she was 25 weeks into my pregnancy," said author Kayla Aimee. "I couldn’t find anything similar. I wanted something to read. I wanted a little bit of encouragement and so I wrote something that I hope would do that for other moms."